Friday Foxer #211

This week’s handmade co-op puzzle won’t defox itself. If you’re a dab hand at quizzes, lateral thinking, and search engine sleuthing, why not help out.

The ‘cluster foxer’ is regarded by some as the most demanding form. Solving one involves identifying 25 pictures and five hidden themes. The enlargeable mosaic below consists of five interlocked picture clusters (some possible cluster arrangements are shown above) each with its own theme. Themes have nothing in common with each other. Don’t be surprised to find, for example, “Crocodiles”, “Tulip mania”, “Words beginning with “ter””, “1948” and “Fictional policemen” sharing a puzzle. A picture’s connection to a particular theme won’t always be literal. An image of the Brandenburg Gate is just as likely to be part of a “Bach” cluster as a “Berlin” one.

In an attempt to ensure as many people as possible get a chance to participate, Roman requests defoxers solve no more than five squares per person on Day 1, and guess no more than one cluster theme. (After 24 hours have elapsed, fill your boots!). Use your ration to complete an entire horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line before anyone else to win ‘Connect 5’ bragging rights.

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SOLUTIONS

Last week’s collage foxer theme: African capitals (defoxed by copperbottom)

algiers (Nutfield)
antananarivo (Colonel_K)
bamako (copperbottom)
bangui (a_monk)
cairo (a_monk)
conakry (Phlebas)
dakar (Colonel_K)
juba (a_monk)
khartoum (Nutfield)
luanda (a_monk)
mogadishu (unacom)
monrovia (Froggster)
tripoli (Nutfield)

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36 Comments

  12. Mrs Nutfield just went crazy and gave me answers to E2, C4, E4 & B4:

    But we are only allowed 1 more, so i’ll take:

    E2 – Hero, a game of adventure in the catacombs

  13. I’m guessing there is a link of the attempted raising of the Titanic on the lower right hand side.

    Will return tomorrow if everything hasn’t been found

  14. D1. Gold Heavyweight Lonsdale Belt won by Henry Cooper thrice

    (I’m moderately relieved to learn that Mrs Nutfield is not a devotee of the sweet science!)

  16. Re: A2. it’s difficult to guess what might be the relevant keyword

    The planes are the Short Mayo Composite (a piggy-back long-range seaplane and flying boat combination), Mercury atop Maia.
    The plaque is on the Dundee waterfront commemorating the world record long-distance seaplane flight in 1938
    https://www.google.com/maps/place/Seaplane+Mercury+Commemoration/@56.4560904,-2.9691274,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipN6YWmjQtn0i-dw2QfgM_u5fGWCHrCCnL1v8J6s!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN6YWmjQtn0i-dw2QfgM_u5fGWCHrCCnL1v8J6s%3Dw397-h298-k-no!7i4000!8i3000!4m9!3m8!1s0x48865db9738fe3ab:0x818090450b11251a!8m2!3d56.4560904!4d-2.9691274!10e5!14m1!1BCgIgAQ!16s%2Fg%2F11fjtp4ds4!5m1!1e1?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDExNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

  17. E4 – Arthur Rackham illustration for The GOOSE Girl (Brothers Grimm)
    E5 – Sergeant GANDER, heroic Newfoundland dog of WW2

  21. A5. The submersible Star III outside the Birch Aquarium (next to the Scipps Institute of Oceanography)
    https://www.google.com/maps/@32.8662673,-117.2493571,3a,75y,340.86h,82.64t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sScEEjY6cJ9eidEFk10RkMA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D7.355083540179152%26panoid%3DScEEjY6cJ9eidEFk10RkMA%26yaw%3D340.8573489193389!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDExNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

  23. Re: E1.
    Again one that’s difficult to figure the keyword Roman is hiding.
    It may be, as Nutfield has it, a Victorian Railways S-Class Diesel.

    It was a feature of the cafe next-door to the Station Hotel, Greville Street, Prahran, Victoria through the 80s and 90s (it’s gone by the time Google Streetview turns up in 2007)

  25. Something to do with MI6 courier Greville Wynne

    D1. Exchanged for Soviet spy posing as Gordon Arnold LONSDALE
    E1. GREVILLE Wynne
    D2. Carried information vital for understanding the CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

    most likely also:
    C1. ??? (annoyingly IS NOT the Glienicke Bridge where Lonsdale and Wynne were exchanged)
    (Doesn’t look like the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge either, where Oleg Penkovsky made first contact)

    possibly also E2. Hero
    (Book about Oleg Penkovsky is titled Codename: Hero in the US, but I can’t see that this is a recognised designation. He’s most commonly called ‘The Spy who Saved the World’)

  26. C1 – The Tour Eiffel Bridge, also known as the Montcalm Street Bridge, is a small but ornate bridge in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Built with part of the Eiffel tower.

    The Colosseum cinema in C2 is the largest THX cinema in the world, along with the Star Wars stuff is there a George Lucas link?

    • I reckon ‘Bigness’ is relevant… in a way.

      B3. belongs in that group, the important part being the mappa mundi.

    • A4 – foam cushions that caught fire
      A5 – DSV involved in the search
      B4 – Hard Head mission
      B5 – Thule
      C4 – B28FI thermonuclear bombs

    • C1 – Eiffel Tower
      C2 – Colloseum
      C3 – Millenium Falcon
      B3 – Art World Map
      D3 – Titanic

    • E3 – the actor playing Captain Smith is David Calder – he also played Greville Wynne in a 1985 BBC serial (Wynne and Penkovsky).

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